Friday, June 27, 2014

Lufthansa’s flight to Malta from Frankfurt this afternoon was
diverted to Rome where it made an emergency landing to offload a sick
passenger, a spokesman for the airline said. The Airbus A320, which left Frankfurt at 1322, will continue on its
way to Malta after refuelling. Originally due in Malta at 1545, the
flight is now expected to arrive at 1925. (Source: timesofmalta.com, 27-Jun-2014)

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

The German Navy Gepard-class fast-patrol boat FGS S75 Zobel (P 6125) has sailed into Valletta Port (the Grand Harbour) yesterday in the evening on a courtesy visit. The German fast-patrol boat is presently berthed alongside at Pinto-3 wharf, and she's expected to sail from the Grand Harbour on Thursday, June 26. (25-Jun-2014)

Sunday, June 22, 2014

The Royal Navy Duke-class frigate HMS
Somerset (F 82) has sailed into Valletta Port (Grand Harbour) this
morning on a courtesy visit. She has on board a Westland Lynx HMA.8SRU helicopter, serial XZ255.

The
British frigate is presently berthing alongside at Pinto-4/5 Wharf, and
she's expected to sail from Malta on Wednesday, June 25. (22-Jun-2014)

Sunday, June 15, 2014

An Air Berlin Airbus 320-200 (D-ABDQ), performing flight AB-8886 from Munich (Germany) to Catania-Fontanarossa (Italy), had to
divert to Malta IAP this afternoon around 1455lt due to volcanic ash cloud on eastern Sicily. The aircraft continued with its flight
to Catania-Fontanarossa after a tech-stop at Malta IAP. (14-Jun-2014)

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Today is a historic day for the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) as for the
first time in its history, it received a brand new multipurpose
helicopter, an Agusta Westland AW-139, designed specifically around the operational requirements of
the service. Visibly happy, AFM personnel inspected their
new aircraft once it landed at the Malta International Airport a few
hours ago. For logistics officers involved in this EU co-financed
project as well as for operational airmen, it was a very special day
seeing a brand new helicopter gracing the apron of their base. (Source: AFM, 14-Jun-2014)

A Turkish Cargo Airbus 330-200 freighter (TC-JDO), performing flight TK-6733
from Istanbul-Atatürk (Turkey) to Misratah (Libya), had to
divert to Malta International Airport this morning around 0710lt due to low visibility at destination. The freighter continued with its flight to Misratah after 1.5-hrs on the ground (14-Jun-2014)

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Hermes Aviation (FlyHermes.com) started operations
with this single Boeing 737-4K5 registered as 9H-HER (msn 24901). The airliner
was delivered on May 26, 2014. The first revenue flight was on Jun. 6,
2014. (Source: worldairlinenews.com, 8-Jun-2014)

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Malta IAP this year registered a significant increase in May traffic, welcoming a total of 402,289 passengers. This marks a 6.4% rise in passenger movements compared to last year. May’s figures were due to an added seat capacity of 4.9%. Seat Load factor increased by 1.1%, reaching an overall 76.5% for the month.

Traffic from the U.K. grew by 8.9%, as a result of the growth being experienced in London-Gatwick as well as regional airports in the U.K.. Traffic from France improved by 21.4% following the growth on Paris flights by Air Malta and the introduction of a new Transavia route from Nantes.

Growth in travels towards and from Italy also rose significantly by 13.9%, retaining its place as an ever-popular European destination, while traffic to and from Germany achieved a similar result to 2013. A 9.1% increase in traffic towards the Netherlands resulted in this country featuring for the first time as our fifth top destination.

Overall, aircraft movements for the month rose by 6.5%, which was reflected in an increase of 24,341 passengers, when compared to the corresponding period of last year. (Source: maltairport.com, 4-Jun-2014)